Second friend testifies he was with Clark earlier the night of the shooting

By Mitchell Byars, Camera Staff Writer

Posted:
10/15/2012 09:03:54 AM MDT

Updated:
10/15/2012 07:53:08 PM MDT

1010CLARK1.jpg Michael Clark heads toward the courtroom with family and friends at the Boulder County Justice Center in Boulder, Colorado October 10, 2012. Clark is accused of the 1994 murder of Boulder city worker Marty Grisham.DAILY CAMERA/ MARK LEFFINGWELL (MARK LEFFINGWELL)

Follow Daily Camera reporter @mitchellbyars for live coverage of the Michael Clark trial.

As the murder trial of Michael Clark resumed Monday, prosecutors tried to convince a jury that Clark and a friend had arranged for the purchase of a 9mm handgun similar to the one that was used to kill Boulder city worker Marty Grisham in his doorway in 1994.

Clark's friend Dion Moore, who said he dealt firearms in the 1990s, testified Clark came up to him sometime before the shooting and said he was being stalked by somebody and needed a gun.

"He said he needed a gun to protect himself and asked if I could get it for him," Moore said.

While Moore said he initially was hesitant about getting Clark the gun, he eventually agreed. He showed him some smaller-caliber weapons he had, but said Clark asked for something with more "stopping power."

So Moore said he needed to get a "surrogate" -- someone over 21 and without a felony conviction -- to buy the gun for him. He said he asked someone who lived near his home in Denver to buy the gun for him. They went to a pawnshop called ABC pawn and purchased two 9mm handguns, one of which Moore gave to Clark.

Investigators later found a purchase record from Oct. 19, 1994, that showed a David Berring purchased two handguns at the pawnshop. Detectives tracked Berring down in Florida in 2010, and he testified in court Monday that he remembered buying the two guns for a black male who lived near his old residence in Denver.

Berring also said he remembers the male talked about being from Chicago -- Moore was born there -- and said the name "Dion" rang a bell when detectives said it.

However, when Berring was shown a photo lineup in 2010 that included Moore, he was unable to pick him out. Moore also said he did not remember who he had asked to buy the gun.

Both Moore and Berring have pending criminal cases and are in Colorado on personal recognizance bonds, though both said they were not receiving anything in exchange for their testimony.

Clark a 'good kid'

Michael Clark's Marine Corps recruiting officer testified Monday that Clark was a "good kid," but did say that he told Clark before the shooting that another incident would jeopardize his enlistment.

Marine Sgt. Ron Weyer said Clark was, "motivated, in great shape, the kind of recruit you wanted. He really had a strong desire to be a Marine."

Weyer said Clark was on track to be enlisted and sent to boot camp, but then was arrested in September 1994 on suspicion of stealing a motorcycle. Recruits who have pending legal action are not allowed to ship out to boot camp -- a felony conviction automatically prohibits someone from joining the Marine Corps -- so Weyer said he tried to talk to the Boulder County District Attorney's Office to work out a misdemeanor plea deal for Clark.

"I tell them, 'Hey, this kid wants to join the Marine Corps, but he can't join the Marine Corps if he has some kind of legal action,' " Weyer said. "Typically, local law enforcement try to help out."

Weyer also testified that he remembered Clark showing him a "generic," 9mm handgun. He said he remembered checking the gun to see if it was loaded, which would have involved taking out the magazine and then checking the chamber.

While he said Monday he didn't remember the specifics, in his 1994 interview with Boulder detectives, Weyer told police that when he checked the gun Clark was very nervous and wiped down a bullet he'd touched.

The alibi

Clark's high school friend Jamie Uhlir also took the stand Monday morning as prosecutors tried to establish a timeline for the day of the shooting.

Uhlir testified that he and Clark were at a high school soccer game in Lakewood before the shooting. He said Clark dropped him off after the game and left his Denver apartment at around 8:50 or 9 p.m. He said it typically took around 20 to 30 minutes for him to drive up to Boulder. The shooting was first called in by Grisham's girlfriend, Barbara Burger, at 9:35 p.m. that night.

Boulder police Det. Rich Denig also testified Monday that shortly after the shooting, both he and Cmdr. Kurt Weiler -- who at the time was also a Boulder detective -- drove the route from Uhlir's house to the parking lot outside Grisham's apartment.

Using unmarked cars and driving at "reasonable" speeds -- Weiler left at 8:50 p.m., and Denig left at 9 p.m. -- Weiler arrived in Boulder shortly after 9:20 and Denig arrived at about 9:32 p.m.

Denig did say the detectives did not time how long it took them to get from the parking lot to the front door of Grisham's apartment.

The jury was let out for the day at 4:45 p.m. Prosecutors estimate witness testimony in the case will wrap up sometime today.

MacIntyre says the completed project will be best in Pac-12There were bulldozers, hard hats, mud, concrete trucks, blueprints, mud, cranes, lots of noise and, uh, mud, during the last recruiting cycle when Colorado football coach Mike MacIntyre brought recruits to campus. Full Story

Most people don't play guitar like Grayson Erhard does. That's because most people can't play guitar like he does. The guitarist for Fort Collins' Aspen Hourglass often uses a difficult two-hands-on-the-fretboard technique that Eddie Van Halen first popularized but which players such as Erhard have developed beyond pop-rock vulgarity.
Full Story